Oscillating furniture and playthings

ABSTRACT

A piece of oscillating furniture, for example a cradle, rocking chair, swinging garden seat or hammock, or a plaything, for example a swing or rocking-horse, is provided with an electromagnetic oscillation maintenance device including a ferromagnetic core disposed within and movable axially relative to a hollow coil support of an electromagnet. The core has an outer sheath of patent leather frictionally mounted in a glass lining disposed on an inner surface of the coil support. A switch is arranged so that after a given change in the direction of oscillation of the piece of furniture or plaything, it closes a circuit to intermittently supply current to the electromagnet to provide oscillation maintaining impulses.

United States Patent Pad [ Oct. 22, 1974 [76] Inventor: Mohammad Reza Pad, Nader St.

' Forooshgahe, Asady-Opposite Javid Garage, Shiraz, lran [22] Filed: Mar. 2, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 337,645

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr/3, 1972 Iran 11051 [52] US. Cl 5/109, 272/86, 297/260, 335/247 [51] Int. Cl.....' A47d 9/02, HOlf 7/12 [58] Field of Search 5/108, 109; 272/86', 297/260; 335/247, 257, 277

[56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 587,014 7/1897 Packard 5/109 2,692,354 10/1954 Fisher 335/257 2,877,390 3/1959 Trombetta 335/257 2,922,614 1/1960 Nickells 335/247 3,261,032 7/1966 Reardon 5/108 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 450,755 8/1949 ltaly 5/109 Primary Examiner- -Paul R. Gilliam Assistant Examiner-Kenneth .1. Dorner Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Emory L. Groff; Emory L. Groff, Jr.

[ 5 7 ABSTRACT A piece of oscillating furniture, for example a cradle, rocking chair, swinging garden seat or hammock, or a plaything, for example a swing or rocking-horse, is provided with an electromagnetic oscillation maintenance device including a ferromagnetic core disposed within and movable axially relative to a hollow coil support of an electromagnet. The core has an outer sheath of patent leather frictionally mounted in a glass lining disposed on an inner surface of the coil support. A switch is arranged so that after a given change in the direction of oscillation of the piece of furniture or plaything, it closes a circuit to intermittently supply current to the electromagnet to provide oscillation maintaining impulses.

4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures OSCILLATING FURNITURE AND PLAYTHINGS The invention relates to pieces of oscillating furniture such as cradles, rocking chairs, hammocks and swinging garden seats, as well as to oscillating playthings such as swings, see-saws and rocking horses. For the sake of convenience, such playthings will hereinafter be referred to by, and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning of, the term oscillating furniture.

Pieces of oscillating furniture of the type referred to, and which are adapted to be actuated by the user or by another person, have been known for many years. However, the use thereof necessitates repeated physical efforts on the part of the user or other person in order to maintain the oscillations.

Various pieces of motor-actuated oscillating furniture are also known. However, the motor-produced oscillations with these pieces of furniture can be sensed by the user as a forced oscillation, far less pleasant than a free oscillation intermittently maintained by the user or another person. 7

An aim of the invention is therefore to provide a piece of oscillating furniture which avoids the inconveniences' indicated above.

According to the invention, a piece of oscillating furniture comprises at least one oscillation maintenance device including an electromagnet and means for intermittently supplying electric current to the electromagnet after a change in the direction of oscillation of the piece to provide an impulse tending to oscillate the piece in the new direction of oscillation.

Said oscillation maintenance device includes first and second parts movable relative to one another, the first part being an electromagnet having a hollow coil support and the second part being a core of ferromagnetic material engaged within and generally along an axis of said coil support, said core having an outer sheath of patent leather frictionally mounted in a glass lining disposed on an inner surface of the coil support.

The accompanying drawings show, schematically and by way of example, two embodiments of pieces of furniture according to the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the first embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a partial end elevational view, on an enlarged scale, from the right of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are partially cut away perspective views of details of the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the second embodiment; and

FIG. 6 is a partially cut-away perspective view of a detail of the second embodiment.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a cradle I mounted for oscillation on a tubular chassis 2 by means of pivots 3, integral with upper edges 4 of end panels 5 of the cradle 1. These pivots 3 engage within and are supported by bearings 6 of chassis 2.

An electromagnetic device 7 for maintaining oscillationsof the cradle l is mounted so as to be adjustable in height on a cable 8 stretched between a lower crosspiece 9 and an inclined rod 10 of chassis 2. A mobile part 11 of the device 7 is articularly connected by a cable 12 to the upper edge 4 of one of the panels 5 of cradle 1, at a point between the pivot 3 and one of the ends of the edge 4.

. A case 13 containing a switch 14 controlled by an extension to one of the pivots 3 is mounted on the chassis 2 at the height of one of the bearings 6. The switch 14 is connected on the one hand to the main electricity supply by means of a cable 15 and, on the other hand, to the electromagnetic device 7 for the purpose of providing an intermittent supply of electric current to the latter.

As shown in FIG. 3, the electromagnetic device for maintaining oscillation of cradle 1 comprises an electromagnet l6 housed in a casing 17 forming the fixed part of the device mounted on cable 8. The mobile part 11 of device 7 is formed by a ferromagnetic core 18,

composed of strips of a high permeability ferromagnetic material, such as those available under the trade names Permalloy C, Mumetall" or M1040. This ferromagnetic core 18 has at its upper end a ring 19 by means of which it can be connected to one of the ends of cable 12.

The mobile core 18 has an outer sheath 20 of patent leather and is coaxially engaged, with friction, in a hollow coil support 21 of rectangular transversal section. Support 21 carries a winding 22 of the electromagnet 16, which has a U-shaped body 23 composed of strips of a high permeability ferromagnetic material, similar to those of the core 18.

The inner face of the hollow coil-support 21 is covered with a lining 24 of strips of glass which contacts the surface of the patent leather sheath 20 surrounding mobile core 18. A stop member 25 of a compressible elastic material, intended to absorb the impact produced by core 18 at the end of a downward stroke, is housed in the lower end of the coil-support 21 which rests on the base of the U-shaped carcase 23 of electromagnet 16.

In this manner, the reciprocating movement of core 18 in the hollow coil-support 21 is made practically silent and vibration free.

As shown in FIG. 4, the switch 14 for providing an intermittent supply of electric current to the device 7 comprises a contact unit 26. Contact elements 27, 28 of unit 26 are mounted facing one another at the free ends of resilient spring blades 29, 30 respectively which are mounted, generally parallel to one another, by their other ends on an insulating support 39, each blade being connected to a terminal 40.

The blade-29 has, on its face opposite that carrying the contact element 27, a protuberance 31 which is adapted to cooperate with a control member 32 to close the contact unit 26 of switch 14. The protuberance 31 is formed by a piece of glass stuck onto blade 29.

The control member 32 includes an arm 33 keyed on one of the pivots 3 of cradle l and extending outwardly from the corresponding bearing 6 of chassis 2.

A support plate 34, carried by one of the faces of arm 33 towards the free end thereof, carries one of the parts of a hinge 35, the pivoting axis of which is parallel to the arm 33. The other part of hinge 35 carries, outside its free end edge, a rubber roller 36. The hinge 35 is mounted between a block 37 of rubber on plate 34 and a rubber blade 38.

The spring blade 29 is more rigid than the rubber blade 38 so that the roller 36, which is located facing the surface of blade 29 which carries the protuberance 31, is lifted up by the protuberance 31 when the arm 33 pivots in the counter-clockwise direction (looking at FIG. 4). Consequently, the contact unit 26 does not close when the pivot 3 turns in the counter-clockwise direction (looking at FIGS. 2 and 4). However, when the pivot 3 turns in the clockwise direction (looking at FIGS. 2 and 4), as soon as the roller 36 comes into contact the lower edge of protuberance 31 the part of hinge 35 carrying the roller 36 remains applied against the stop-forming rubber block 37, which limits pivotal In addition to the switch 14 controlled by pivot 3, the case 13 contains a second switch controlled by a timer mechanism, which enables the supply to the electromagnetic device 7 for maintaining the oscillations of cradle l to be switched off after a period of time that can be adjusted by means of a control knob 41 (FIG. 1). The case 13 also has an indicator light 42 which is switched off when the second switch opens.

As shown in FIG. 1, the chassis 2 also has a hoop 43 on which a fan-blade 44 is pivotally suspended above cradle 1, blade 44 being actuated by a rod 45 which is pivoted on the one hand to the upper edge 4 of an end panel of the cradle 1 and, on the other hand, to an arm 46 projecting at right-angles to the upper edge of blade 44.

An electric-gramophone 47, of the type in which a disc is introduced in a slot, and which incorporates a bed-side lamp 40, is also suspended from the hoop 43. The gramophone 47 is supplied with electric current from the case 13, and the timer mechanism for actuation of the second switch enables both the lamp 48 and the gramophone 47, which may advantageously play a disc with lullaby music, to be switched off after a period of time that can be adjusted by means of the knob 41.

In operation, as the cradle 1 rocks, after each time that the direction of oscillation of cradle 1 changes from counter-clockwise to clockwise (looking at FIG. 2), the switch 14 is closed for a certain period of time to supply a pulse of electric current to the electromagnet 16 which provides a downward impulse on the core 18 tending to oscillate the cradle 1 in the clockwise direction.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show a rocking chair 52 with rockers 53 provided, on a cross-piece 54 between the rockers 53, with an electromagnetic device 7a for maintaining oscillations of the chair.

The device 7a is similar to device 7 of FIG. 3, and the same reference numerals designate the same or equivalent parts of the two devices. However, the device 7a differs from the above-described device 7 in that its casing 17 houses the switch 14 for providing an intermittent supply of electric current. Device 7a is thus directly connected to the electric mains by a cable 15. Also, the mobile ferromagnetic core 18 is extended at its lower end by a rod 49 passing through the elastic stop 25 (not shown in FIG. 6) and through a bore 50 in the base of the U-shaped body 23. The free end of .is controlled by a rod 58 connecting the upper end of the ferromagnetic core 18 to a lever arm 59 extending beyond a pivot 60, and functioning as an extension of the arm 33 of control member 32 for the contact unit 26. A return spring 56, mounted about the rod 58, ensures pivoting of the arm 33 in the clockwise direction (looking at FIG. 6) and the closure of contact unit 26 by means of a roller 36.

The electromagnetic device 7a for maintaining oscillation of rocking chair 52 could similarly be mounted on a cross-piece of a rocking horse or any other piece of furniture or plaything mounted on rockers. Such devices may also be mounted on each of two cross-pieces disposed towards the rear and front ends of the rockers .of a piece of furniture.

As a variation, swings of the type comprising a seat and harness suspended by a spring or an elastically extensible cable, available under the trade name Yupla," can be provided with a support protruding under the seat and carrying at its lower end an oscillation maintenance device 7a. Similarly, see-saws adapted to oscillate about a horizontal axis may be provided with a device 7a under seats at its ends.

Numerous other types of pieces of furniture according to the invention can be provided, for example swinging garden seats and hammocks.

Instead of mounting the electromagnetic oscillation maintenance device 7 with the electromagnet 16 fixed and the ferromagnetic core 18 movable relative to the piece of furniture, the core 18 could be fixed and the electromagnet mobile. It is also possible to mount the switch 14 in the casing 17 of the device 7, as for the device 7a.

In order to eliminate any humming produced by the device 7 when it operates with a.c., it is possible to provide a rectifier and a smoothing capacitor in the line supplying electric current to the winding 22. The device would thus operate with d.c.

I claim:

1. A piece of oscillating furniture comprising at least one device imparting an oscillating movement thereto, said device including first and second parts movable relative to one another, the first part comprising an electromagnet including a body and a hollow coil support, the second part comprising a core of ferromagnetic material engaged within and disposed axially of said coil support, an outer sheath of patent leather on said core, a glass lining on an inner surface of the coil support, said sheath being in frictional engagement with said lining, means for intermittently supplying electric current to the electromagnet after a change in the direction of oscillation of the piece of furniture to provide an impulse tending to oscillate it in a new direction of oscillation, said means comprising a blade switch, an oscillating control arm mounted on said piece of furniture, a member pivotally mounted on said arm towards a free end thereof and engageable with said blade switch, elastic return means acting on said member, said member being pivotable in one direction against the action of said elastic return means and a stop member limiting pivotal movement of said member relative to said arm in the other direction, said piece of furniture further comprising a chassis, bearings on said chassis, pivot means supported by said bearings, an oscillating body suspended by said pivot means, said pivot means actuating said oscillating control arm of the switch, one of said parts of the oscillating move- 3. A piece of furniture as claimed in claim 1, in which one blade of said switch has a protuberance facing said member pivotally mounted on the oscillating arm, contact elements carried by the blades of said switch, said member cooperating with said protuberance to move said contact elements into engagement with each other when the oscillating arm oscillates in a direction to make said element tend to pivot in said other direction.

4. A piece of oscillating furniture comprising at least one device imparting an oscillating movement thereto, said device including first and second parts movable relative to one another, the first part comprising an electromagnet including a body and a hollow coil support, the second part comprising a core of ferromagnetic material engaged within and disposed axially of said coil support, an outer sheath of patent leather on said core, a glass lining on an inner surface of the coil support, said sheath being in frictional engagement with said lining, means for intermittently supplying electric current to the electromagnet after a change in the direction of oscillation of the piece of furniture to provide an impulse tending to oscillate it in a new direction of oscillation, said means comprising a blade switch, an oscillating control arm mounted on said piece of furniture, a member pivotally mounted on said arm towards a free end thereof and engageable with said blade switch, elastic return means acting on said .member, said member being pivotable in one direction against the action of said elastic return means and a stop member limiting pivotal movement of said member relative to said arm in the other direction, said piece of furniture being mounted on a rocker, said rocker adapted to oscillate on a supporting surface, a casing mounted on said rocker and containing said first part of said device, means connecting said oscillating control arm to a free end of said core, said ferromagnetic core including a rod connected to one end thereof, said rod extending through said body of the electromagnet and adapted to engage said supporting surface and maintain the oscillations of said piece of furniture by propulsion upon closing of said switch. 

1. A piece of oscillating furniture comprising at least one device imparting an oscillating movement thereto, said device including first and second parts movable relative to one another, the first part comprising an electromagnet including a body and a hollow coil support, the second part comprising a core of ferromagnetic material engaged within and disposed axially of said coil support, an outer sheath of patent leather on said core, a glass lining on an inner surface of the coil support, said sheath being in frictional engagement with said lining, means for intermittently supplying electric current to the electromagnet after a change in the direction of oscillation of the piece of furniture to provide an impulse tending to oscillate it in a new direction of oscillation, said means comprising a blade switch, an oscillating control arm mounted on said piece of furniture, a member pivotally mounted on said arm towards a free end thereof and engageable with said blade switch, elastic return means acting on said member, said member being pivotable in one direction against the action of said elastic return means and a stop member limiting pivotal movement of said member relative to said arm in the other direction, said piece of furniture further comprising a chassis, bearings on said chassis, pivot means supported by said bearings, an oscillating body suspended by said pivot means, said pivot means actuating said oscillating control arm of the switch, one of said parts of the oscillating movement device being connected to said body and the other to said chassis.
 2. A piece of furniture as claimed in claim 1, in which said electromagnet includes a U-shaped body, one of the ends of said coil support resting on the base of the U of said body, and a stop member of elastically compressible material at said one end of the coil support.
 3. A piece of furniture as claimed in claim 1, in which one blade of said switch has a protuberance facing said member pivotally mounted on the oscillating arm, contact elements carried by the blades of said switch, said member cooperating with said protuberance to move said contact elements into engagement with each other when the oscillating arm oscillates in a direction to make said element tend to pivot in said other direction.
 4. A piece of oscillating furniture comprising at least one device imparting an oscillating movemenT thereto, said device including first and second parts movable relative to one another, the first part comprising an electromagnet including a body and a hollow coil support, the second part comprising a core of ferromagnetic material engaged within and disposed axially of said coil support, an outer sheath of patent leather on said core, a glass lining on an inner surface of the coil support, said sheath being in frictional engagement with said lining, means for intermittently supplying electric current to the electromagnet after a change in the direction of oscillation of the piece of furniture to provide an impulse tending to oscillate it in a new direction of oscillation, said means comprising a blade switch, an oscillating control arm mounted on said piece of furniture, a member pivotally mounted on said arm towards a free end thereof and engageable with said blade switch, elastic return means acting on said member, said member being pivotable in one direction against the action of said elastic return means and a stop member limiting pivotal movement of said member relative to said arm in the other direction, said piece of furniture being mounted on a rocker, said rocker adapted to oscillate on a supporting surface, a casing mounted on said rocker and containing said first part of said device, means connecting said oscillating control arm to a free end of said core, said ferromagnetic core including a rod connected to one end thereof, said rod extending through said body of the electromagnet and adapted to engage said supporting surface and maintain the oscillations of said piece of furniture by propulsion upon closing of said switch. 